Lately a number of people have contacted me to ask about various tests they planned to have done, often including reproductive hormone level testing. Many had planned to have blood testing done as their initial step in approaching healthy reproductive hormone balancing.
I have discouraged them from relying on blood testing for hormone balance. The reason is simple: Blood testing is simply not a good way to discover what your baseline reproductive hormone levels are.
Here’s why: Blood is a very complex serum, containing many organic molecules and compounds. Most of the reproductive hormones, including estradiol, (the major form of estrogen in humans, both female and male), and progesterone, tend to “bind” to these organic molecules. Once they are bound, they no longer are “bioavailable”, meaning that they no longer have much relevance in terms of hormone balance. Yet they still show up in blood testing.
So you can easily see how the results of blood testing for these hormone levels are very misleading.
In contrast, saliva is a very simple liquid, containing few organic molecules. Hence the actual hormones detected in a saliva sample are almost always completely bioavailable. What you see is what you get!
Further, when testing for reproductive hormone levels and balances it almost always makes sense to include testing for cortisol levels, as well. And since cortisol levels naturally fluctuate during the day, it usually makes sense to get 4 different samples in a day. It is certainly more convenient and easier to collect saliva 4 times throughout a day than to collect blood 4 times in a day!
For all these reasons it makes sense to rely on saliva testing when setting about to balance your reproductive hormones.
Here is a link for more information, and for a lab that can provide you with accurate results at a reasonable price:
To your health!
Jeff Bell
Note: If you are outside the continental United States, please DO NOT use the Buy Button above. Instead please e-mail me to request a custom quote. Not only are the shipping costs increased for testing outside the United States, but there may be legal restrictions depending on your location.